Acquisition and association of data indicative of an inferred mental state of an authoring user

ABSTRACT

A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to: acquiring data indicative of an inferred mental state of an authoring user; and associating the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to and claims the benefit of theearliest available effective filing date(s) from the following listedapplication(s) (the “Related Applications”) (e.g., claims earliestavailable priority dates for other than provisional patent applicationsor claims benefits under 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patentapplications, for any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of the Related Application(s)).

RELATED APPLICATIONS

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/154,686, entitled ACQUISITION AND ASSOCIATION OFDATA INDICATIVE OF AN INFERRED MENTAL STATE OF AN AUTHORING USER, namingEdward K. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Robert W. Lord,Mark A. Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. asinventors, filed May 23, 2008 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,904,507, which iscurrently co-pending, or is an application of which a currentlyco-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/154,686, entitled DETERMINATION OF EXTENT OFCONGRUITY BETWEEN OBSERVATION OF AUTHORING USER AND OBSERVATION OFRECEIVING USER, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A.Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and LowellL. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 23 May 2008, which is currentlyco-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/157,611, entitled DETERMINATION OF EXTENT OFCONGRUITY BETWEEN OBSERVATION OF AUTHORING USER AND OBSERVATION OFRECEIVING USER, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A.Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and LowellL. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed Jun. 10, 2008, which is currentlyco-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

The United States Patent Office (USPTO) has published a notice to theeffect that the USPTO's computer programs require that patent applicantsreference both a serial number and indicate whether an application is acontinuation or continuation-in-part. Stephen G. Kunin, Benefit ofPrior-Filed Application, USPTO Official Gazette Mar. 18, 2003, availableat http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/og/2003/week11/patbene.htm.The present Applicant Entity (hereinafter “Applicant”) has providedabove a specific reference to the application(s) from which priority isbeing claimed as recited by statute. Applicant understands that thestatute is unambiguous in its specific reference language and does notrequire either a serial number or any characterization, such as“continuation” or “continuation-in-part,” for claiming priority to U.S.patent applications. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Applicantunderstands that the USPTO's computer programs have certain data entryrequirements, and hence Applicant is designating the present applicationas a continuation-in-part of its parent applications as set forth above,but expressly points out that such designations are not to be construedin any way as any type of commentary and/or admission as to whether ornot the present application contains any new matter in addition to thematter of its parent application(s). All subject matter of the RelatedApplications and of any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of the Related Applications is incorporated herein byreference to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistentherewith.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/215,683, entitled ACQUISITION ANDASSOCIATION OF DATA INDICATIVE OF AN INFERRED MENTAL STATE OF ANAUTHORING USER, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A.Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and LowellL. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed Jun. 26, 2008, which is currentlyco-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/221,253,entitled ACQUISITION AND PARTICULAR ASSOCIATION OF DATA INDICATIVE OF ANINFERRED MENTAL STATE OF AN AUTHORING USER, naming Edward K. Y. Jung,Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud,John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed Jul.29, 2008, which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which acurrently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of thefiling date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/221,197,entitled ACQUISITION AND PARTICULAR ASSOCIATION OF DATA INDICATIVE OF ANINFERRED MENTAL STATE OF AN AUTHORING USER, naming Edward K. Y. Jung,Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud,John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed Jul.30, 2008, which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which acurrently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of thefiling date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/229,517,entitled ACQUISITION AND PARTICULAR ASSOCIATION OF INFERENCE DATAINDICATIVE OF AN INFERRED MENTAL STATE OF AN AUTHORING USER AND SOURCEIDENTITY DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A.Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and LowellL. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed Aug. 21, 2008, which is currentlyco-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/231,302,entitled ACQUISITION AND PARTICULAR ASSOCIATION OF INFERENCE DATAINDICATIVE OF AN INFERRED MENTAL STATE OF AN AUTHORING USER AND SOURCEIDENTITY DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A.Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A. Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and LowellL. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed Aug. 29, 2008, which is currentlyco-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/284,348,entitled ACQUISITION AND PARTICULAR ASSOCIATION OF INFERENCE DATAINDICATIVE OF INFERRED MENTAL STATES OF AUTHORING USERS, naming EdwardK. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A.Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors,filed Sep. 19, 2008, which is currently co-pending, or is an applicationof which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefitof the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/284,710,entitled ACQUISITION AND PARTICULAR ASSOCIATION OF INFERENCE DATAINDICATIVE OF INFERRED MENTAL STATES OF AUTHORING USERS, naming EdwardK. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Robert W. Lord, Mark A.Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors,filed Sep. 23, 2008, which is currently co-pending, or is an applicationof which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefitof the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/287,687,entitled ACQUISITION AND PRESENTATION OF DATA INDICATIVE OF AN EXTENT OFCONGRUENCE BETWEEN INFERRED MENTAL STATES OF AUTHORING USERS, namingEdward K. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Robert W. Lord,Mark A. Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. asinventors, filed Oct. 10, 2008, which is currently co-pending, or is anapplication of which a currently co-pending application is entitled tothe benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/288,008,entitled ACQUISITION AND PRESENTATION OF DATA INDICATIVE OF AN EXTENT OFCONGRUENCE BETWEEN INFERRED MENTAL STATES OF AUTHORING USERS, namingEdward K. Y. Jung, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Robert W. Lord,Mark A. Malamud, John D. Rinaldo, Jr. and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. asinventors, filed Oct. 14, 2008, which is currently co-pending, or is anapplication of which a currently co-pending application is entitled tothe benefit of the filing date.

SUMMARY

A computationally implemented method includes, but is not limited to:acquiring data indicative of an inferred mental state of an authoringuser; and associating the data indicative of the inferred mental stateof the authoring user with an electronic message. In addition to theforegoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings,and text forming a part of the present disclosure.

In one or more various aspects, related systems include but are notlimited to circuitry and/or programming for effecting theherein-referenced method aspects; the circuitry and/or programming canbe virtually any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmwareconfigured to effect the herein-referenced method aspects depending uponthe design choices of the system designer.

A computationally implemented system includes, but is not limited to:means for acquiring data indicative of an inferred mental state of anauthoring user; and means for associating the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronic message.In addition to the foregoing, other system aspects are described in theclaims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.

A computationally implemented system includes, but is not limited to:circuitry for acquiring data indicative of an inferred mental state ofan authoring user; and circuitry for associating the data indicative ofthe inferred mental state of the authoring user with an electronicmessage. In addition to the foregoing, other system aspects aredescribed in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of thepresent disclosure.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be inany way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments,and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and featureswill become apparent by reference to the drawings and the followingdetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a high-level block diagram of a network device operating ina network environment.

FIG. 2 shows another perspective of the network environment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a high-level logic flowchart of a process.

FIG. 4 is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the acquisition operation 302 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the determination operation 404 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of the association operation 304 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7A is a high-level logic flowchart of an alternative process.

FIG. 7B is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of presentation operation 702 of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 7C is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of presentation operation 702 of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 8A is a high-level logic flowchart of another alternative process.

FIG. 8B is a high-level logic flowchart of a process depicting alternateimplementations of transmission operation 802 of FIG. 8A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless contextdictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in thedetailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting.Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made,without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matterpresented here.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which one or more aspectsof various embodiments may be implemented. In the illustratedenvironment, an exemplary system 100 may include at least an authoringnetwork device 104 that may be used by an authoring user 130. In someimplementations, the authoring network device 130 may be used in orderto provide to a receiving user 120 (e.g., via a receiving network device102) or to a third party network device 106 the context and/or tone ofelectronic messages (e.g., electronic message 150) authored and sent bythe authoring user 130. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatalthough authoring user 130/receiving user 120 is depicted in thefigures as an individual for sake of conceptual clarity, in someinstances authoring user 130/receiving user 120 may be considered asexamples of sequential users, unless context dictates otherwise.

In other words, the authoring network device 130 may be particularlyconfigured to facilitate a receiving user 120 (and/or a third partyparticipant via the third party network device 106) “get” the tone ofelectronic messages (e.g., email messages, instant messages (IM), audiomessages, video messages, or other types of electronic messages) sent bythe authoring user 130. In some instances, this may be accomplished byproviding to the receiving user 120 data that may indicate a mentalstate of the authoring user 130 associated with an electronic message150. Such a mental state may be a mental state that has been inferredbased, at least in part, on one or more sensed or measured physicalcharacteristics of the authoring user 130. That is, and as will befurther described, a mental state of a subject (e.g., authoring user 130or a receiving user 120) may be inferred based on, for example, themeasured or detected physical characteristics of the subject. The term“physical characteristics” as used herein may refer to both externalphysical characteristics such as facial expression and irischaracteristics and/or physiological characteristics such as bloodoxygen or blood volume changes of a subject's brain.

For example, if the authoring user 130 composes and sends an electronicmessage 150 containing a humorous story to the receiving user 120 withthe intent to lighten the mood of the receiving user 120, the authoringnetwork device 104 may be advantageously designed to acquire dataindicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user 130 duringor proximate to the composition of the electronic message 150 by theauthoring user 130. After acquiring such data, the data may then beassociated with the electronic message 150 and transmitted to thereceiving user 120 with the electronic message 150 or by other means tothe receiving user 120. In doing so, the receiving user 120 may be madeaware of whether the receiving user 120 is misunderstanding the toneand/or meaning of the electronic message (e.g., the receiving user 120becomes mistakenly distressed by the electronic message because thereceiving user 120 misunderstands the tone of the message) when readingthe electronic message 150.

In some instances, this may be accomplished by comparing the inferredmental state of the authoring user 130 during or proximate to thecomposition or drafting of the electronic message 150 by the authoringuser 130, and the inferred mental state of the receiving user 120 duringor proximate to the presentation of the electronic message 150 to thereceiving user 120. According to some embodiments, the mental states ofusers (e.g., receiving user 120 and/or authoring user 130) may beinferred by observing one or more physical characteristics of the users.The inferred mental states of the receiving user 120 and the authoringuser 130 may be compared in some instances at the receiving networkdevice 102 in order determine congruity between the inferred mentalstates of the receiving and authoring users 120 and 130. Alternatively,such comparison and congruity determination may be made at the thirdparty network device 106. These and other aspects of various embodimentswill be described in greater detail herein.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the authoring network device 104 maycommunicate with the receiving network device 102, and in someinstances, may also communicate with a third party network device 106via a wireless and/or wired network[s] 108. The authoring network device104 may be any type of computing and/or communication device such as apersonal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a cellular telephone, a blackberry, and so forth.

The authoring network device 104 may include various componentsincluding, for example, an acquisition module 160 for acquiring dataindicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user 130. Insome instances, the acquisition of the data may include observing one ormore physical characteristics of the authoring user 130 by employing oneor more integrated sensors 176 and/or one or more external sensors 178to measure the physical characteristics of the authoring user 130. Insome implementations, the acquisition module 160 may include a mentalstate determination module 162 for determining an inferred mental stateof the authoring user 130 based, at least in part, on the observation ofone or more physical characteristics of the authoring user 130.Alternatively, the inferred mental state of the authoring user 130 maybe externally determined in some alternative implementations (e.g., tobe performed by a mental state determination module 162 included in thethird party network device 106). In some instances, the observation ofthe one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user 130 usingthe one or more sensors 176/178 may be performed during or proximate tothe composition by the authoring user 130 of the electronic message 150.

In addition to the acquisition module 160, the authoring network device130 may also include an association module 164 for associating the dataindicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user 130 to theelectronic message 150. In various embodiments, the authoring networkdevice 104 may further include a presentation module 166 and/or atransmission module 168. In brief, and as will be further described, thepresentation module 166 may be for presenting the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user 130 while the transmissionmodule 168 may be employed in order to transmit the data indicative ofthe inferred mental state of the authoring user 130. Such data may beused by, for example, the receiving network device 102 and/or thirdparty network device 106 to determine an extent of congruity between theinferred mental state associated with the authoring user 130 (e.g.,during or proximate to the composition of an electronic message 150 bythe authoring user 130) and the inferred mental state of the receivinguser 120 (e.g., during or proximate to the presentation of theelectronic message 150 to the receiving user 120). The determination ofthe congruity of the inferred mental states of the authoring user 130and the receiving user 120 may indicate as to whether the authoring user130 and the receiving user 120 are, in effect, “on the same page” and/or“gets” the tone and intent of the message, which in some instances mightbe as a result of an exchange of communication (e.g., transmission andpresentation of electronic message 150).

For example, suppose the intent of the authoring user 130 is to lightenthe mood of the receiving user 120 by sending to the receiver user 120an electronic message 150 containing a joke. A determination may be madeas to the congruity of the inferred mental state (e.g., presumablyhappy) of the authoring user 130 during or proximate to the compositionof the electronic message 150 by the authoring user 130 and the inferredmental state (e.g., hopefully happy) of the receiving user 120 during orproximate to the presentation of the electronic message 150 to thereceiving user 120. By determining the congruity of the mental states ofthe authoring user 130 and the receiving user 120 (as they relate to theelectronic message 150), a determination may be made as to whether theintent of the electronic message 150 (e.g., to lighten the mood ofreceiving user 120) was successful.

Note that in some situations the mental states of the authoring user 130and the receiving user 120 may not need to be in congruence with eachother in order to conclude that the receiving user 120 “got” the toneand meaning of the electronic message 150. That is, in some cases, thedesired outcome or desired intent of the electronic message 150 may notresult in the congruence of the mental states of the authoring user 130and the receiving user 120 when the receiving user 120 correctlyunderstands the tone and meaning of the electronic message 150. Forinstance, if the intent of the authoring user 130 is to anger thereceiving user 120 by including, for example, a sarcastic remark intothe electronic message 150, then the mental state (e.g., state ofdisapproval) of the authoring user 130 may not necessarily be incongruence with the mental state (e.g., state of anger) of the receivinguser 120 even though the receiving user 120 may have “got” the tone andmeaning of the electronic message 150 when the electronic message 150was presented to the receiving user 120.

The authoring network device 104 may additionally include a userinterface 170, an email, instant message (IM), audio, and/or videoapplication[s] 172, a network communication interface 174, and/or one ormore integrated sensors 176. In some implementations, the user interface170 may, in fact, be one or more interfaces such as a user display, atouch screen, a keypad, a speaker system, and so forth for interactingwith the authoring user 130. In order to present the data indicative ofthe inferred mental state of the authoring user 130, the presentationmodule 166 in some implementations may present such data via the email,IM, audio, and/or video application[s] 172 (an audio application may be,in some implementations, a voice over internet protocol application orsimply “VoIP”). The network communication interface 174 may be employedto interface with, for example, a wireless and/or a wired network 108.As described above, the authoring network device may further include oneor more integrated sensors 176 for monitoring or measuring one or morephysical characteristics of the authoring user 130. In someimplementations or the same implementations, the authoring networkdevice 104 may employ one or more external sensors 178 to monitor ormeasure one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user 130.

Examples of sensors 176/178 that may be employed by the authoringnetwork device 104 include, for example, devices that can measure brainactivities such as a functional near-infrared imaging (fNIR) device, afunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) device, amagnetoencephalography (MEG) device, an electroencephalography (EEG)device, and/or a positron emission topography device. These devices maymeasure a variety of physiological parameters that may be processed inorder to determine an inferred mental state of a subject (e.g.,authoring user 130). Other types of sensors such as those that measureother types of physical characteristics may be employed as sensor[s]176/178. For example, in some implementations, the sensor[s] 176/178 mayinclude an iris response device, a gaze tracking device, a skin responsedevice (e.g., galvanic skin sensor), and/or a voice response device. Insome alternative implementations, the authoring network device 104 maybe wirelessly (e.g., wireless personal area network (WPAN), wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), and so forth) and/or wired connected to oneor more external sensors 178.

Data obtained from observations made with one or more such sensors176/178 may be used by, for example, the mental state determinationmodule 162 in order to determine an inferred mental state of theauthoring user 130 including, for example, preference, trust, fear,happiness, surprise, inattention, arousal, impatience, confusion,distraction, overall mental activity, alertness, acuity, fear, pain,distress, anger, deception, fairness or unfairness, frustration,approval and disapproval, degree of attention, memory usage—both shortand long term, of the authoring user 130. For example, data obtainedfrom one or more sensors 176/178 that includes an fNIR device mayindicate that a subject (e.g., authoring user 130) is in at least one ofa state of anger, a state of distress, or a state of pain. Data obtainedfrom such sensors 176/178 as well as other types of sensors may alsoindicate that a subject is in a state of frustration, a state ofapproval or disapproval, a state of trust, a state of fear, a state ofhappiness, a state of surprise, a state of inattention, a state ofarousal, a state of impatience, a state of confusion, a state ofdistraction, a state of overall mental activity, a state of alertness, astate of acuity, or other types of mental states.

In order to appreciate various aspects of the authoring network device104, the following illustrative example is provided in which theauthoring network device 104 communicates with one or more networkdevices including receiving network device 102. In this example, theauthoring user 130 using the authoring network device 104 may initiallycompose an electronic message 150, which may be subsequently transmittedto the receiving network device 102 (and/or third party network device106). Turning now to FIG. 2, which is another perspective of theexemplary environment depicted in FIG. 1. More particularly, FIG. 2depicts the receiving network device 104 having some of the samecomponents as the authoring network device 104 as illustrated in FIG. 1.For instance, and similar to the authoring network device 104, thereceiving network device 102 includes an acquisition module 112, whichmay further include a mental state determination module 140, apresentation module 118, a user interface 144, a network communicationinterface 132, an email, IM, audio, and/or video application[s] 134, andone or more external and/or integrated sensors 136/138. These componentsmay serve functions similar to those of their counterparts in theauthoring networking device 104.

In addition to these components, the receiving network device 102 mayalso include a receiving module 110 for receiving data indicative of oneor more inferred mental states of the authoring user 130. The receiveddata may be in at least one of two different forms. In the first form,the received data is sensor provided data of one or more physicalcharacteristics of the authoring user 130 that has been collected fromone or more sensors 176/178. In some implementations, such data may befurther processed by the receiving network device 102 in order to deriveone or more inferred mental states of the authoring user 130. In thesecond form, the received data may be processed data (e.g., as processedby the authoring network device 104 via the mental state determinationmodule 162) as a result of processing the “raw” data provided by one ormore sensors 176/178. In some embodiments, the processed data maydirectly indicate one or more inferred mental states of the authoringuser 130.

The receiving network device 102 may further include an inferred mentalstate comparison module 142. The inferred mental state comparison module142 may be employed in order to compare an inferred mental state of theauthoring user 130 with an inferred mental state of the receiving user120. Such a comparison may be used in order to determine the congruitybetween the inferred mental states of the authoring user 130 and thereceiving user 120 during or proximate to an exchange of, for example,the electronic message 150.

The electronic message 150 to be sent to and received by the receivingnetwork device 102 may be in a form of an email message, an IM message,an audio message, a video message, or another type of electronic messagethat may be sent by the authoring user 130 via the authoring networkdevice 104. The receiving network device 102 may receive the electronicmessage 150 through the network communication interface 132. Along withthe electronic message 150, the receiving network device 102 may receivefrom the authoring network device 104, via the receiving module 110,data indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user 130,which may be included in the electronic message 150 or in anotherelectronic message. After receiving the electronic message 150, theelectronic message 150 may be presented to the receiving user 120 by thepresentation module 118 via the email, IM, audio, and/or videoapplication[s] 134 and through the user interface 144.

During or proximate to the presentation of the electronic message 150 tothe receiving user 120 (e.g., via the presentation module 118), thereceiving network device 102, which may be endowed with one or moresensors 136/138, may observe one or more physical characteristics of thereceiving user 120. Based on the observation of the one or more physicalcharacteristics of the receiving user 120, the receiving network device102, and more particularly, the mental state determination module 140,may infer one or more mental states of the receiving user 120. Themental state determination module 140 (as well as the mental statedetermination module 162 of the authoring network device 104 of FIG. 1)may employ different techniques in order to infer one or more mentalstates from observed physical characteristics of a subject (e.g.,authoring user 130 or receiving user 120). In some implementations, thismay mean associating particular physical characteristics or patterns ofphysical characteristics to one or more mental states (i.e., inferredmental states).

For example, if the one or more sensors 136/138 depicted in FIG. 2include an fMRI device, then the fMRI device may be used in order toscan the brain of the subject (e.g., receiving user 120) during orproximate to the presentation to the receiving user 120 of theelectronic message 150. As a result of the functional magnetic resonanceimaging (fMRI) procedure performed using the fMRI device; the fMRIdevice may provide a profile or a pattern of brain activities (e.g.,blood oxygen and/or blood volume changes of the brain) of the receivinguser 120 during or proximate to the presentation of the electronicmessage 150 to the receiving user 120. The determined “brain activitypattern” may then be compared to brain activity patterns that may havebeen previously recorded and stored in a database or library. In someimplementations, such a database or library may include informationrelative to the subject (e.g., in this case, the receiving user 120)including, for example, log of raw sensor data or data of mappingsbetween sensor data and known or inferred mental states that may be usedin order to “calibrate” data received from the one or more sensors136/138. Alternatively, a model may be employed that associatesdifferent patterns of brain activities with different mental states.Such a model may be used in conjunction with data received from othertypes of sensors (e.g., those types of sensors that do not measure brainactivities) in order to associate, for example, a pattern of brainactivity with one or more mental states.

Such a database or library may contain numerous brain activity patternsthat may have been obtained by sampling a number of people from thegeneral population, having, for example, similar metrics (e.g., age,gender, race, education, and so forth) as the subject (e.g., receivinguser 120). By asking each person what they felt (e.g., mental state) atthe time when their brain activity pattern was recorded, or by using,for example, some other established testing procedures, each brainactivity pattern stored in the library or database may be associatedwith one or more mental states. As a result, by comparing the determinedbrain activity pattern of the receiving user 120 with the brain activitypatterns stored in the database or library, one or more mental statesmay be inferred from the observed physical characteristics of thereceiving user. Note that an inferred mental state of the authoring user130 during or proximate to the composition of the electronic message 150by the authoring user 130 may be similarly determined using one or moresensors 176/178.

In any event, an inferred mental state or states of the receiving user120 during or proximate to the presentation of the electronic message150 may be compared with, via the inferred mental state comparisonmodule 142, an inferred mental state or states of the authoring user 120during or proximate to the composition of the electronic message 150. Insome implementations, the inferred mental state or states of theauthoring user 120 may be provided by the authoring network device 104to the receiving network device 102 via the electronic message 150 orvia some other electronic message.

Alternatively, instead of providing data that directly identifies themental state or states of the authoring user 130; the authoringnetworking device 104 may provide to the receiving network device 102“raw” or unprocessed data that was obtained using sensors 176/178 of oneor more physical characteristics of the authoring user 130. For example,in some implementations, the authoring network device 104 may provide tothe receiving network device 102 data indicating the physicalcharacteristics (e.g., brain activity) observed or measured by a sensor176/178 (e.g., fNIR device) rather than an inferred mental statedetermined by the mental state determination module 162 of the authoringnetwork device 104. In this particular implementation, the receivingnetwork device 102 (e.g., using an mental state determination module 140or similar such module disposed in the receiving module 110) may thenprocess the raw data obtained from the authoring network device 104 todetermine an inferred mental state or states of the authoring user 130during or proximate to the composition of the electronic message 150.

The receiving module 110 of the receiving network device 102 mayinitially receive the electronic message 150 transmitted by theauthoring network device 104 as well as data indicative of an inferredmental state (e.g., raw data provided by sensors 176/178 or data thatindicates or directly identifies the inferred mental state or states ofthe authoring user 130 as provided by, for example, the mental statedetermination module 162) of the authoring user 130. In particular, thereceiving module 110 in some implementation may employ the networkcommunication interface 132 and the email, IM, audio, and/or videoapplication[s] 134 in order to receive and process the electronicmessage 150. In some instances, the receiving module 110 may alsoreceive and process data indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user 130.

If the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoringuser 130 that is received is, in fact, in the form of raw data fromsensors 176/178 instead of in the form of data that directly identifiesan inferred mental state of the authoring user 130, then the receivedresults may be processed by, for example, a mental state determinationmodule 140 or similar such module, in order to obtain an inferred mentalstate of the authoring user 130 during or proximate to the compositionof the electronic message 150. The term “proximate” as used herein mayrefer to, in some instances, partly during, immediately subsequent, orimmediately preceding the composition of the electronic message 150.

After receiving the electronic message 150 from the authoring networkdevice 104, the receiving network device 102 may present or display theelectronic message 150 to the receiving user 120 via the user interface144. During or proximate to the presentation of the electronic message150 to the receiving user 120, the acquisition module 112 using one ormore sensors 136/138 may make an observation of one or more physicalcharacteristics of the receiving user 120. In some implementations, andas previously described, the mental state determination module 140 maydetermine an inferred mental state for the receiving user 120 based, atleast in part, on the results of the observation of the one or morephysical characteristic of the receiving user 120.

In some implementations, the observation of one or more of the physicalcharacteristics of the receiving user 120 may be made by using one ormore sensors 136/138. For example, in some embodiments, a single ormultiple sensors 136/138 such as a combination of a galvanic skinsensor, an iris response device, a gaze tracking device, and/or a voiceresponse device may be used in order to observe various physicalcharacteristics of the receiving user 120 when the electronic message150 is being presented to the receiving user 120. Based on theobservations made by the multiple sensors 136/138, the sensors 136/138may output raw data indicating the physical characteristics of thereceiving user 120. Such raw data may include, for example, galvanicskin response data provided by a galvanic skin sensor and a gazetracking (e.g., eye movement) data obtained from a gaze tracking device.The raw data may then be used by the mental state determination module140 in order to infer one or more mental states for the receiving user120.

The comparison module 114, in some instances, may then compare theresults of the observation (e.g., inferred mental state during orproximate to the composition of the electronic message 150) of theauthoring user 130 with the results of the observation (e.g., inferredmental state during or proximate to the presentation of the electronicmessage 150) of the receiving user 120. Based on this comparison, thepresentation module 118 may present an extent of congruity between theresult of the observation of the authoring user 130 and the result ofthe observation of the receiving user 120 to the receiving user 120and/or to the third party network device 106. The extent of congruitymay facilitate in determining whether the receiving user 120 is“getting” the tone and meaning of the electronic message 150 sent by theauthoring user 130.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the various components (e.g., acquisitionmodule 160, mental state determination module 162, association module164, presentation module 166, transmission module 168, and so forth)included with the authoring network device 104 may be embodied byhardware, software and/or firmware. For example, in some implementationsthe acquisition module 160, the mental state determination module 162,the association module 164, the presentation module 166, and thetransmission module 168 may be implemented with a processor (e.g.,microprocessor, controller, and so forth) executing computer readableinstructions (e.g., computer program product) stored in a storage medium(e.g., volatile or non-volatile memory) such as a signal-bearing medium.Alternatively, hardware such as application specific integrated circuit(ASIC) may be employed in order to implement such modules in somealternative implementations.

FIG. 3 illustrates an operational flow 300 representing exampleoperations related to acquisition and association of data indicative ofan inferred mental state of an authoring user. In FIG. 3 and in thefollowing figures that include various examples of operational flows,discussions and explanations may be provided with respect to theabove-described exemplary environment of FIGS. 1 and 2, and/or withrespect to other examples and contexts. However, it should be understoodthat the operational flows may be executed in a number of otherenvironments and contexts, and/or in modified versions of FIGS. 1 and 2.Also, although the various operational flows are presented in thesequence(s) illustrated, it should be understood that the variousoperations may be performed in other orders than those which areillustrated, or may be performed concurrently.

Further, in FIG. 3 and in following figures, various operations may bedepicted in a box-within-a-box manner. Such depictions may indicate thatan operation in an internal box may comprise an optional exampleembodiment of the operational step illustrated in one or more externalboxes. However, it should be understood that internal box operations maybe viewed as independent operations separate from any associatedexternal boxes and may be performed in any sequence with respect to allother illustrated operations, or may be performed concurrently.

In any event, after a start operation, the operational flow 300 may moveto an acquisition operation 302, where acquiring data indicative of aninferred mental state of an authoring user may be executed by, forexample, the acquisition module 160 of FIG. 1. For example, such datamay be acquired, at least in part, by the authoring network device 104of FIG. 1 using the acquisition module 160 and employing one or moresensors 176/168 to sense (e.g., measure, scan, or detect) one or morephysical characteristics (e.g., brain activities) of the authoring user130. The data to be acquired may be in the form of raw or unprocesseddata collected from the one or more sensors 176/178 (e.g., an fNIRdevice and/or fMRI device), which when processed, may provide data thatidentifies one or more inferred mental states (e.g., state of anger,state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration, state ofapproval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state ofhappiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) ofthe authoring user 130. Alternatively, the data to be acquired may be inthe form of data (e.g., as provided by the mental state determinationmodule 162) that may directly identify one or more inferred mentalstates of the authoring user 130. The one or more inferred mental statesof the authoring user 130 to be identified by the acquired data mayinclude at least one of, for example, a state of anger, a state ofdistress, a state of pain, a state of frustration, a state of approvalor disapproval, a state of trust, a state of fear, a state of happiness,a state of surprise, a state of inattention, a state of arousal, a stateof impatience, a state of confusion, a state of distraction, a state ofoverall mental activity, a state of alertness, a state of acuity, and/orother types of mental states.

The operational flow 300 may then move to an association operation 304where associating the data indicative of the inferred mental state ofthe authoring user with an electronic message may be executed by, forexample, the association module 164 of FIG. 1. For example, in someimplementations, the data (e.g., as provided by one or more sensors176/178 and/or by mental state determination module 162) indicative ofthe inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state of distress,state of pain, state of frustration, state of approval or disapproval,state of trust, state of fear, state of happiness, state of surprise,state of inattention, state of arousal, state of impatience, state ofconfusion, state of distraction, state of overall mental activity, stateof alertness, and/or state of acuity) of the authoring user 130 may beassociated by the association module 164 with an electronic message 150(e.g., an email message) by incorporating the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user 130 into the electronicmessage 150.

In some alternative implementations, the association operation 304 mayinvolve including, via the association module 164, an identity (e.g., inthe form of symbolic, numeric, and/or textual representation) of thedata indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger,state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration, state ofapproval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state ofhappiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, state of acuity, and/orother types of mental states) of the authoring user 130 into theelectronic message 150 (e.g., email message). In still otherimplementations, the acquisition operation 304 may involve adding intothe electronic message 150 by the association module 164 a link to thedata indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger,state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration, state ofapproval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, and/or state ofhappiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, state of acuity, and/orother types of mental states) of the authoring user 130 where the link,in some implementations, may be a hyperlink. The electronic message 150(e.g., transmitted via the user interface 170) that the data indicativeof the inferred mental state (e.g., inferred state of happiness) of theauthoring user 150 may be associated with may be, in variousimplementations, an email message, an IM message, an audio message, avideo message, and/or another type of electronic message.

FIG. 4 illustrates various embodiments of the example acquisitionoperation 302 of FIG. 3. In particular, FIG. 4 illustrates exampleembodiments where the acquisition operation 302 includes at least oneaddition operation 402. For example, in some embodiments, theacquisition operation 302 may include a determination operation 402where determining the data indicative of the inferred mental state ofthe authoring user may be executed. For instance, in someimplementations, this may entail, the acquisition module 164 of theauthoring network device 104 of FIG. 1 determining the data (e.g., “raw”data provided by one or more sensors 176/178 or data that may directlyidentify an inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state ofdistress, state of pain, state of frustration, state of approval ordisapproval, state of trust, state of fear, and/or state of happiness,state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal, state ofimpatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state of overallmental activity, state of alertness, state of acuity, and/or other typesof mental states) as provided by mental state determination module 162indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger) of theauthoring user 130. In some implementations, the determination operation402 may further include additional one or more operations.

For example, in some embodiments, the determination operation 402 mayinclude another or second determination operation 404 for determining aresult of an observation of one or more physical characteristics of theauthoring user, the observation of the one or more physicalcharacteristics of the authoring user being performed during orproximate to a composition by the authoring user of the electronicmessage. For instance, in some implementations, the determinationoperation 404 may include determining by the acquisition module 160 ofthe authoring network device 104 a result of an observation (e.g., basedon data provided by one or more sensors 176/178 such as a fNIR and/or afMRI device) of one or more physical characteristics (e.g., blood oxygenand/or blood volume changes of the brain) of the authoring user 130, theobservation of the one or more physical characteristics of the authoringuser 130 being performed during or proximate to a composition (e.g.,drafting) by the authoring user 130 of the electronic message 150 (e.g.,email).

In various embodiments, the determination operation 404 of FIG. 4 mayinclude one or more additional operations. For example, in someembodiments, the determination operation 404 may include a sensingoperation 406 for sensing at least one of galvanic skin response, heartrate, blood pressure, or respiration associated with the authoring user.For instance, in some implementations, sensing operation 406 may includethe acquisition module 160 of the authoring network device 104 sensing(e.g., by employing one or more sensors 176/178 including, for example,a galvanic skin sensor, heart rate monitor, blood pressure monitor,and/or respiratory monitoring device) at least one of galvanic skinresponse, heart rate, blood pressure, or respiration associated with theauthoring user 130.

In the same or alternative embodiments, the determination operation 404may include another sensing operation 408 for sensing at least one offacial expression, skin characteristic, voice characteristic, eyemovement, or iris dilation associated with the authoring user. Forinstance, in some implementations, the sensing operation 408 may includethe authoring network device 104 of FIG. 1 sensing (e.g., via theacquisition module 160) at least one of facial expression, skincharacteristic, voice characteristic, or iris dilation (e.g., asdetected by one or more sensors 176/178, wherein the one or more sensors176/178 includes an image capture device for capturing facialexpressions, a galvanic skin response device, an audio capturing devicefor detecting voice characteristics, and/or an iris tracking device fordetecting iris dilation) associated with the authoring user 130.

In the same or alternative embodiments, the determination operation 404may include another sensing operation 410 for sensing at least one ofblood oxygen or blood volume changes of a brain associated with theauthoring user. For example, the sensing operation 410 may include theauthoring network device 104 sensing (e.g., via the acquisition module160) at least one of blood oxygen or blood volume changes of a brain(e.g., as measured by one or more sensors 176/178 such as an fNIR deviceand/or fMRI device) associated with the authoring user 130.

In the same or alternative embodiments, the determination operation 404may include another sensing operation 412 for sensing one or morephysical characteristics of the authoring user in a response associatedwith a functional magnetic resonance image procedure on the authoringuser. For instance, in some implementations, the sensing operation 412may include the authoring network device 104 of FIG. 1 sensing (e.g.,via the acquisition module 160) one or more physical characteristics(e.g., blood oxygen and/or blood volume changes) of a brain of theauthoring user 130 in a response associated with a functional magneticresonance image procedure (e.g., as performed by one or more sensors176/178 including one or more fMRI devices) on the authoring user 130.

In the same or alternative embodiments, the determination operation 404may include another sensing operation 414 for sensing one or morephysical characteristics of the authoring user in a response associatedwith a functional near infrared procedure on the authoring user. Forinstance, in some implementations, the sensing operation 414 may includethe authoring network device 104 sensing (e.g., via the acquisitionmodule 160) one or more physical characteristics (e.g., blood oxygen orblood volume changes of a brain) of the authoring user 130 in a responseassociated with a functional near infrared procedure (e.g., as performedby one or more sensors 176/178 including one or more fNIR devices) onthe authoring user 130.

FIG. 5 illustrates certain embodiments of operation 404 of FIG. 4. Inparticular, FIG. 5 illustrates embodiments where operation 404 includesone or more additional and/or alternative operations to those operations(e.g., operations 406, 408, 410, 412, and 414) depicted in FIG. 4 foroperation 404. For example, in some embodiments, the operation 404 mayinclude another or a third determination operation 502 for inferring amental state of the authoring user based, at least in part, on anobservation of one or more physical characteristics of the authoringuser. For instance, in some implementations, the determination operation502 may include the authoring network device 104 of FIG. 1 inferring(e.g., via the mental state determination module 162) a mental state(e.g., state of anger, state of distress, state of pain, state offrustration, state of approval or disapproval, state of trust, state offear, state of happiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, stateof arousal, state of impatience, state of confusion, state ofdistraction, state of overall mental activity, state of alertness,and/or state of acuity) of the authoring user 130 based, at least inpart, on an observation (e.g., using one or more sensors 176/178including one or more galvanic skin sensors) physical characteristics(e.g., galvanic skin response) of the authoring user 130.

In various embodiments, operation 502 may further include adetermination operation 504 and/or a determination operation 506. Forexample, in some embodiments, operation 502 may include thedetermination operation 504 for inferring a mental state of theauthoring user indicating that the authoring user is in at least one ofa state of anger, a state of distress, or a state of pain. For instance,in some implementations, the determination operation 504 may include theauthoring network device 130 inferring (e.g., via the mental statedetermination module 162) a mental state of the authoring user 130indicating that the authoring user 130 is in at least one of a state ofanger, a state of distress, or a state of pain (e.g., based on dataprovided by one or more sensors 176/178 including, for example, an irisresponse device, a gaze tracking device, a skin response device such asa galvanic skin sensor, and/or a voice response device).

In the same or alternative embodiments, operation 502 may furtherinclude another determination operation 506 for inferring a mental stateof the authoring user indicating that the authoring user is in at leastone of a state of frustration, a state of approval or disapproval, astate of trust, a state of fear, a state of happiness, a state ofsurprise, a state of inattention, a state of arousal, a state ofimpatience, a state of confusion, a state of distraction, a state ofoverall mental activity, a state of alertness, or a state of acuity. Forinstance, in some implementations, operation 506 may include theauthoring network device 130 inferring (e.g., via the mental statedetermination module 162) a mental state of the authoring user 130indicating that the authoring user 130 is in at least one of a state offrustration, a state of approval or disapproval, a state of trust, astate of fear, or a state of happiness, a state of surprise, a state ofinattention, a state of arousal, a state of impatience, a state ofconfusion, a state of distraction, a state of overall mental activity, astate of alertness, or a state of acuity (e.g., based, at least in part,on data provided by one or more sensors 176/178 including, for example,an fNIR device and/or an fMRI device).

FIG. 6 illustrates various embodiments of the association operation 304of FIG. 3. More particularly, FIG. 6 illustrates example embodimentswhere the association operation 304 may include one or more additionaland/or alternative operations. For example, in some embodiments, theassociation operation 304 may include an incorporation operation 602 forincorporating the data indicative of the inferred mental sate of theauthoring user into the electronic message. For instance, in someimplementations, incorporation operation 602 may include the authoringnetwork device 104 of FIG. 1 incorporating (e.g., via the associationmodule 164) the data (e.g., as provided by one or more sensors 176/178and/or by mental state determination module 162) indicative of theinferred mental sate (e.g., state of anger, state of distress, state ofpain, state of frustration, state of approval or disapproval, state oftrust, state of fear, state of happiness, state of surprise, state ofinattention, state of arousal, state of impatience, state of confusion,state of distraction, state of overall mental activity, state ofalertness, and/or state of acuity) of the authoring user 130 into theelectronic message 150 (e.g., an IM message).

In the same or alternative embodiments, the association operation 304may also include an inclusion operation 604 for including into theelectronic message an identity of the data indicative of the inferredmental state of the authoring user. For instance, in some implantations,the inclusion operation 604 may include the authoring network device 104including (e.g., via the association module 164) into the electronicmessage (e.g., a voice or audio message) an identity (e.g., a symbolic,numeric, and/or textural representation) of the data (e.g., as providedby one or more sensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determinationmodule 162) indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state ofanger, state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration, state ofapproval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state ofhappiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) ofthe authoring user 130.

In the same or alternative embodiments, the association operation 304may include another inclusion operation 606 for including into theelectronic message an identifier to the data indicative of the inferredmental state of the authoring user. For example, in some implantations,the inclusion operation 606 may include the authoring network device 104including (e.g., as executed by the association module 164) into theelectronic message 150 (e.g., an email message), an identifier (e.g.,pointer to a network address, a link (e.g., hyperlink), a pointer tocomputer storage, etc.) to the data (e.g., as provided by one or moresensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determination module 162)indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state ofdistress, state of pain, state of frustration, state of approval ordisapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state of happiness, state ofsurprise, state of inattention, state of arousal, state of impatience,state of confusion, state of distraction, state of overall mentalactivity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) of the authoringuser 130.

In some embodiments, the inclusion operation 606 may further include anoperation 608 for including into the electronic message a hyperlink tothe data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.For instance, in some implementations, the operation 608 may include theauthoring network device 104 of FIG. 1 including (e.g., via theassociation module 164) into the electronic message (e.g., an IMmessage) a hyperlink to the data (e.g., as provided by one or moresensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determination module 162)indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state ofdistress, state of pain, state of frustration, state of approval ordisapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state of happiness, state ofsurprise, state of inattention, state of arousal, state of impatience,state of confusion, state of distraction, state of overall mentalactivity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) of the authoringuser 130.

In the same or alternative embodiments, the association operation 304may further include a pairing operation 610 for pairing an identity ofthe electronic message with the data indicative of the inferred mentalstate of the authoring user. For example, in some implementations, thepairing operation 610 may include the authoring network device 104pairing (e.g., via the association module 164) an identity (e.g., asymbolic, numeric, and/or textural representation) of the electronicmessage (e.g., an email message) with the data (e.g., as provided by oneor more sensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determination module 162)indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state ofdistress, state of pain, state of frustration, state of approval ordisapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state of happiness, state ofsurprise, state of inattention, state of arousal, state of impatience,state of confusion, state of distraction, state of overall mentalactivity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity).

In some embodiments, the pairing operation 610 may further include anoperation 612 for incorporating the data indicative of the inferredmental state and the identity of the electronic message into anotherelectronic message. For instance, in some implementations, operation 612may include the authoring network device 104 incorporating (e.g., viathe association module 164) the data (e.g., as provided by one or moresensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determination module 162)indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state ofdistress, state of pain, state of frustration, state of approval ordisapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state of happiness, state ofsurprise, state of inattention, state of arousal, state of impatience,state of confusion, state of distraction, state of overall mentalactivity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) and the identity(e.g., as provided by an email application 172) of the electronicmessage (e.g., an email message to be transmitted via the wirelessand/or wireless network[s] 108) into another electronic message (e.g.,another email message to be transmitted via the wireless and/or wirelessnetwork[s] 108).

FIG. 7A illustrates another operational flow 700 in accordance withvarious embodiments. In particular, operational flow 700, which issimilar (e.g., also having an acquisition operation 302 and anassociation operation 304 as described previously) to operational flow300 of FIG. 3, includes a presentation operation 702 for presenting thedata indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user inaddition to the previously described operations (e.g., acquisitionoperation 302 and association operation 304). For instance, in someimplementations, the presentation operation 702 may include theauthoring network device 130 of FIG. 1 presenting (e.g., via thepresentation module 160 and through user interface 170 and/or networkcommunication interface 174) the data (e.g., as provided by one or moresensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determination module 162)indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state ofdistress, state of pain, state of frustration, state of approval ordisapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state of happiness, state ofsurprise, state of inattention, state of arousal, state of impatience,state of confusion, state of distraction, state of overall mentalactivity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) of the authoringuser 130.

FIG. 7B illustrates various embodiments of the presentation operation702 of FIG. 7A. More particularly, FIG. 7B illustrates exampleembodiments where the presentation operation 702 includes one or moreadditional operations. For example, in some embodiments, thepresentation operation 702 may include an operation 704 for presentingthe data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring userto the authoring user. For instance, in some implementations, operation704 may include the authoring network device 130 of FIG. 1 presenting(e.g., as performed by the presentation module 166) the data (e.g., asprovided by one or more sensors 176/178 and/or by mental statedetermination module 162) indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g.,state of anger, state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration,state of approval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, stateof happiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) ofthe authoring user 130 to the authoring user 130 (e.g., via the userinterface 170).

In various embodiments, operation 704 may further include an exampleoperation 706 for presenting the data indicative of the inferred mentalstate of the authoring user to the authoring user prior to atransmission of the data indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user. For instance, in some implementations, the exampleoperation 706 may include the authoring network device 130 presenting(e.g., via email application 172) the data (e.g., as provided by one ormore sensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determination module 162)indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state ofdistress, state of pain, state of frustration, state of approval ordisapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state of happiness, state ofsurprise, state of inattention, state of arousal, state of impatience,state of confusion, state of distraction, state of overall mentalactivity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) of the authoringuser 130 to the authoring user 130 via the user interface 170 prior to atransmission (e.g., via the network communication interface 174) of thedata indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user 130.

In some alternative or the same embodiments, the example operation 706may include one or more additional operations. For example, in someembodiments, the example operation 706 may include an operation 708 forproviding to the authoring user at least one of an option to transmitthe data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring useror an option not to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mentalstate of the authoring user. For instance, in some implementations,operation 708 may include the authoring network device 130 of FIG. 1providing (e.g., via the presentation module 166 and user interface 170)to the authoring user 130 at least one of an option to transmit (e.g.,via the network communication interface 174) the data (e.g., as providedby one or more sensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determinationmodule 162) indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state ofanger, state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration, state ofapproval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state ofhappiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) ofthe authoring user 130 or an option not to transmit the data indicativeof the inferred mental state of the authoring user 130.

FIG. 7C illustrates various alternative embodiments of the presentationoperation 702 of FIG. 7A. More particular, FIG. 7C illustratesadditional example embodiments where the presentation operation 702includes additional one or more operations. For example, in someembodiments, the presentation operation 702 may include an operation 712for presenting data indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user to the authoring user through at least one application.For instance, in some implementations, operation 712 may include theauthoring network device 104 of FIG. 1 presenting (e.g., via thepresentation module 166) data indicative of the inferred mental state(e.g., state of anger, state of distress, state of pain, state offrustration, state of approval or disapproval, state of trust, state offear, state of happiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, stateof arousal, state of impatience, state of confusion, state ofdistraction, state of overall mental activity, state of alertness,and/or state of acuity) of the authoring user 130 to the authoring user130 (e.g., via the user interface 170) through at least one application(e.g., a network communication application).

In various embodiments, operation 712 may include an operation 714 forpresenting data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoringuser to the authoring user via an email application, via an instantmessage (IM) application, via an audio application, or via a videoapplication. For instance, in some implementations, operation 714 mayinclude the authoring network device 104 and the presentation module 166presenting data (e.g., as provided by one or more sensors 176/178 and/orby mental state determination module 162) indicative of the inferredmental state (e.g., state of anger, state of distress, state of pain,state of frustration, state of approval or disapproval, state of trust,state of fear, and/or state of happiness) of the authoring user 130 tothe authoring user 130 (e.g., through user interface 170) via an emailapplication, via an instant message (IM) application, via an audioapplication, or via a video application.

In some alternative or the same embodiments, the presentation operation702 may also include an operation 716 for displaying at least onesymbolic representation indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user. For instance, in some implementations, operation 716 mayinclude the authoring network device 104 displaying (e.g., via the userinterface 170) at least one symbolic representation (e.g., a number, aletter, an icon, an image, a word, a phrase, or other symbolicrepresentation) indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state ofanger, state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration, state ofapproval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state ofhappiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) ofthe authoring user 130.

In various embodiments, operation 716 may include operation 718 fordisplaying a number indicative of an inferred mental state of theauthoring user. For instance, in some implementations, operation 718 mayinclude the authoring network device 104 displaying (e.g., via the userinterface 170 such as a display monitor) a number indicative of aninferred mental state (e.g., state of anger, state of distress, state ofpain, state of frustration, state of approval or disapproval, state oftrust, state of fear state of happiness, state of surprise, state ofinattention, state of arousal, state of impatience, state of confusion,state of distraction, state of overall mental activity, state ofalertness, and/or state of acuity) of the authoring user 130.

FIG. 8A illustrates still another operational flow 800 in accordancewith various embodiments. In particular, operational flow 800, which issimilar (e.g., also having an acquisition operation 302 and anassociation operation 304 as described previously) to operational flow300 of FIG. 3, includes a transmission operation 802 for transmittingthe electronic message to a receiving user. For instance, in someimplementations, operation 802 may include the authoring network device104 of FIG. 1 transmitting (e.g., via the network communicationinterface 174) the electronic message (e.g., an email, an IM message, anaudio message, and/or a video message) to a receiving user 120 (e.g.,via the receiving network device 102).

FIG. 8B illustrates various embodiments of the transmission operation802 of FIG. 8A. More particularly, FIG. 8B illustrates exampleembodiments where the transmission operation 802 includes one or moreadditional operations. For example, in some embodiments, thetransmission operation 802 may include operation 804 for transmittingthe data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring userto the receiving user. For instance, in some implementations, operation804 may include the authoring network device 104 of FIG. 1 transmitting(e.g., via the transmission module 168) the data (e.g., as provided byone or more sensors 176/178 and/or by mental state determination module162) indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g., state of anger,state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration, state ofapproval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, state ofhappiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) ofthe authoring user 130 to the receiving user 120 (e.g., via the wirelessand/or wired network[s] 108).

In various embodiments, operation 804 may further include an exampleoperation 806 for transmitting the data indicative of the inferredmental state of the authoring user to the receiving user via theelectronic message or via another electronic message. For instance, insome implementations, operation 806 may include the authoring networkdevice 104 transmitting (e.g., via the transmission module 168) the data(e.g., as provided by one or more sensors 176/178 and/or by mental statedetermination module 162) indicative of the inferred mental state (e.g.,state of anger, state of distress, state of pain, state of frustration,state of approval or disapproval, state of trust, state of fear, stateof happiness, state of surprise, state of inattention, state of arousal,state of impatience, state of confusion, state of distraction, state ofoverall mental activity, state of alertness, and/or state of acuity) ofthe authoring user 130 to the receiving user 120 via the electronicmessage 150 (e.g., a first email message) or via another electronicmessage (e.g., a second email message or in another electronic messageother than an email message).

In the same or alternative embodiments, the transmission operation 802may include an operation 808 for transmitting the electronic messagethrough at least one of a wireless network or a wired network. Forinstance, in some implementations, operation 808 may include theauthoring network device 104 of FIG. 1 transmitting (e.g., via thetransmission module 168 employing an IM application 172 and the networkcommunication interface 174) the electronic message (e.g., IM message)through at least one of a wireless network and/or a wired network[s]108.

In various embodiments, operation 808 may further include an operation810 for transmitting an email message, an instant message (IM), an audiomessage, or a video message through the at least one of the wirelessnetwork or the wired network. For instance, in some implementations,operation 810 includes the authoring network device 104 transmitting(e.g., via the transmission module 168 using the network communicationinterface 174) an email message, an instant message (IM), an audiomessage, or a video message through the at least one of the wirelessand/or the wired network[s] 108.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the arthas progressed to the point where there is little distinction leftbetween hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; theuse of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that incertain contexts the choice between hardware and software can becomesignificant) a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs.Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are variousvehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologiesdescribed herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/orfirmware), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context inwhich the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies aredeployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed andaccuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardwareand/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, theimplementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet againalternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware,software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles bywhich the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies describedherein may be effected, none of which is inherently superior to theother in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon thecontext in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns(e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the implementer, any ofwhich may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that opticalaspects of implementations will typically employ optically-orientedhardware, software, and or firmware.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts,and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will beunderstood by those within the art that each function and/or operationwithin such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment,several portions of the subject matter described herein may beimplemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), orother integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art willrecognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, inwhole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integratedcircuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or morecomputers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computersystems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors(e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors),as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designingthe circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmwarewould be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light ofthis disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capableof being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, andthat an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described hereinapplies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium usedto actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearingmedium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable typemedium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), aDigital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape, a computer memory, etc.; and atransmission type medium such as a digital and/or an analogcommunication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wiredcommunications link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious aspects described herein which can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, orany combination thereof can be viewed as being composed of various typesof “electrical circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein “electricalcircuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry havingat least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having atleast one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least oneapplication specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming ageneral purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g.,a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which atleast partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein,or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at leastpartially carries out processes and/or devices described herein),electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of randomaccess memory), and/or electrical circuitry forming a communicationsdevice (e.g., a modem, communications switch, or optical-electricalequipment). Those having skill in the art will recognize that thesubject matter described herein may be implemented in an analog ordigital fashion or some combination thereof.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that it is common withinthe art to describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forthherein, and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate suchdescribed devices and/or processes into data processing systems. Thatis, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described hereincan be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amountof experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that atypical data processing system generally includes one or more of asystem unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatileand non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one ormore interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and/or controlsystems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback forsensing position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/oradjusting components and/or quantities). A typical data processingsystem may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially availablecomponents, such as those typically found in datacomputing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interactingcomponents and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactablecomponents.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein.Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by theappended claims.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such anintent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence ofsuch recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations.

In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitationis explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that suchrecitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recitednumber (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in generalsuch a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.).

In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A,B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended inthe sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention(e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include butnot be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and Ctogether, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the artthat virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or morealternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings,should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including oneof the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, thephrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A”or “B” or “A and B.”

1. A system comprising: one or more sensors configured to sense one ormore physical characteristics of an authoring user, wherein said one ormore sensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics ofan authoring user, comprises: a functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) device; an acquisition module configured to acquire dataindicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user based, atleast in part, on the one or more physical characteristics sensed by theone or more sensors; and an association module configured to associatethe data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring userwith an electronic message.
 2. A system comprising: one or more sensorsconfigured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoringuser, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or morephysical characteristics of an authoring user, comprises: a functionalnear infrared (fNIR) device; an acquisition module configured to acquiredata indicative of an inferred mental state of the authoring user based,at least in part, on the one or more physical characteristics sensed bythe one or more sensors; and an association module configured toassociate the data indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user with an electronic message.
 3. The system of claim 2,wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or morephysical characteristics of an authoring user comprise: at least one ofa galvanic skin sensor device, a heart rate sensor device, a bloodpressure sensor device, or a respiration sensor device.
 4. The system ofclaim 2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one ormore physical characteristics of an authoring user comprise: at leastone of a facial expression sensor device, a skin characteristic sensordevice, a voice response device, a gaze tracking device, or an irisresponse device.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or moresensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of anauthoring user are further configured to: sense at least one of bloodoxygen or blood volume changes of a brain associated with the authoringuser.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensorsconfigured to sense one or more physical characteristics of an authoringuser are further configured to: sense at least one of a galvanic skinresponse, heart rate, blood pressure, or respiration associated with theauthoring user.
 7. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or moresensors configured to sense one or more physical characteristics of anauthoring user are further configured to: sense at least one of facialexpression, skin characteristic, voice characteristic, eye movement, oriris dilation associated with the authoring user.
 8. The system of claim2, wherein said one or more sensors configured to sense one or morephysical characteristics of an authoring user are further configured to:sense one or more physical characteristics of the authoring user duringor proximate to a composition of the electronic message by the authoringuser.
 9. The system of claim 2, wherein said acquisition moduleconfigured to acquire data indicative of an inferred mental state of theauthoring user based, at least in part, on the one or more physicalcharacteristics sensed by the one or more sensors comprises: a mentalstate determination module.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein saidmental state determination module comprises: a mental statedetermination module configured to infer a mental state associated withthe authoring user based, at least in part, on one or more physicalcharacteristics of the authoring user sensed by the one or more sensors.11. The system of claim 10, wherein said mental state determinationmodule configured to infer a mental state associated with the authoringuser based, at least in part, on one or more physical characteristics ofthe authoring user sensed by the one or more sensors further comprises:a mental state determination module configured to infer a mental stateassociated with the authoring user based, at least in part, on one ormore physical characteristics of the authoring user sensed by the one ormore sensors during or proximate to a composition of the electronicmessage by the authoring user.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein saidmental state determination module configured to infer a mental stateassociated with the authoring user based, at least in part, on one ormore physical characteristics of the authoring user sensed by the one ormore sensors further comprises: a mental state determination moduleconfigured to infer at least one of a state of anger, a state ofdistress, or a state of pain associated with the authoring user.
 13. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein said mental state determination moduleconfigured to infer a mental state associated with the authoring userbased, at least in part, on one or more physical characteristics of theauthoring user sensed by the one or more sensors further comprises: amental state determination module configured to infer at least one of astate of frustration, a state of approval or disapproval, a state oftrust, a state of fear, a state of happiness, a state of surprise, astate of inattention, a state of arousal, a state of impatience, a stateof confusion, a state of distraction, a state of overall mentalactivity, a state of alertness, or a state of acuity associated with theauthoring user.
 14. The system of claim 2, wherein said associationmodule configured to associate the data indicative of the inferredmental state of the authoring user with an electronic message comprises:an association module configured to incorporate the data indicative ofthe inferred mental state of the authoring user into the electronicmessage.
 15. The system of claim 2, wherein said association moduleconfigured to associate the data indicative of the inferred mental stateof the authoring user with an electronic message comprises: anassociation module configured to include into the electronic message anidentity of the data indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user.
 16. The system of claim 2, wherein said associationmodule configured to associate the data indicative of the inferredmental state of the authoring user with an electronic message comprises:an association module configured to include into the electronic messagean identifier to the data indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein said associationmodule configured to include into the electronic message an identifierto the data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoringuser further comprises: an association module configured to include intothe electronic message a hyperlink to the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user.
 18. The system of claim 2,wherein said association module configured to associate the dataindicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user with anelectronic message comprises: an association module configured to pairan identity of the electronic message with the data indicative of theinferred mental state.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein saidassociation module configured to pair an identity of the electronicmessage with the data indicative of the inferred mental state furthercomprises: an association module configured to incorporate the dataindicative of the inferred mental state and the identity of theelectronic message into another electronic message.
 20. The system ofclaim 2, further comprising: a presentation module configured to presentthe data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.21. The system of claim 20, wherein said presentation module configuredto present the data indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user comprises: a presentation module configured to presentthe data indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring userto the authoring user.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein saidpresentation module configured to present the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user to the authoring userfurther comprises: a presentation module configured to present the dataindicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to theauthoring user prior to a transmission of the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user.
 23. The system of claim 22,wherein said presentation module configured to present the dataindicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to theauthoring user prior to a transmission of the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user further comprises: apresentation module configured to provide to the authoring user at leastone of an option to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mentalstate of the authoring user or an option not to transmit the dataindicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user.
 24. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein said presentation module configured topresent the data indicative of the inferred mental state of theauthoring user to the authoring user prior to a transmission of the dataindicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user furthercomprises: a presentation module configured to provide to the authoringuser at least one of an option to transmit the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user or an option to select andtransmit data indicative of an alternative mental state of the authoringuser.
 25. The system of claim 21, wherein said presentation moduleconfigured to present the data indicative of the inferred mental stateof the authoring user to the authoring user comprises: a presentationmodule configured to display at least one of a symbolic representationor a number indicative of the inferred mental state of the authoringuser to the authoring user.
 26. The system of claim 2, furthercomprising: a transmission module configured to transmit the dataindicative of the inferred mental state of the authoring user to areceiving user.
 27. The system of claim 26, wherein said transmissionmodule configured to transmit the data indicative of the inferred mentalstate of the authoring user to a receiving user comprises: atransmission module configured to transmit the data indicative of theinferred mental state of the authoring user to the receiving user viathe electronic message or via another electronic message.
 28. The systemof claim 2, further comprising: a user interface.
 29. The system ofclaim 28, wherein said user interface comprises: at least one of a userdisplay, a touch screen, a keypad, or a speaker system.
 30. The systemof claim 2, further comprising: a network communication interface. 31.The system of claim 30, wherein said network communication interfacecomprises: a network communication interface configured to interfacewith at least one of a wireless network or a wired network.
 32. Thesystem of claim 2, further comprising: at least one of an emailapplication, an instant message (IM) application, an audio application,or a video application.